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CALM returns to Kalomo following truck driver protest yesterday

19/11/2013

CALM has returned to Kalomo following yesterday’s protest by truck drivers engaged to ferry agro inputs under the government sponsored Fertilizer Input Support Programme (FISP)who blocked township roads and the Great North road for some hours with their trucks loaded with the commodity after a week long delay to off load the fertilizer from their vehicles.

Frantic efforts by the district administration together with the local security wings managed to convince the drivers of the 29 trucks laden with fertilizer who blocked township roads and the Lusaka %u2013 Livingstone road causing a traffic jam on both sides of the Great North road.

The 29 truck drivers claimed that they were dumped by a named warehouse manager for FISP after transporting the inputs from Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ) to the district who only managed to fill up two holding sheds and later abandoned them without telling them where to leave the commodity.

They complained that they were forced to guard the commodity when their job was to transport the commodity which they had done.

They further complained that they had run out of their upkeep money and had nowhere to answer the call of nature or bath.

District commissioner, Patrick Phiri, however managed to convince the drivers in the late afternoon of the day after addressing them and directing that they offload their trucks today at the Kalomo secondary school hall as an alternative to hold the government stocks.

The commotion caused panic in the town as farmers who had started depositing their money for the exercise started wondering whether the commodity was to be offloaded.